Wednesday, January 15, 2014

6 - RULES

Rules

Here’s what happens when you don’t follow the rules:

My mother
once showed up at my birthday party and simply handed me a gift bag with a
stationery set in it. It was horribly awkward. I didn’t know what to do with it
and wondered why on earth my mother felt I needed stationery (I was living with
her at the time). I wondered if she was using my birthday to ask me to move
out. It eventually came out that she had been kept late at work all week, including
my birthday and just happened to have the stationery stashed in a drawer. I
gave the stationery back and we went out for pie on a separate occasion
instead.

Here’s what happens when you follow the rules:

A couple of
years after the stationery incident, my mom saw me laugh out loud at a
mechanical “Bouncing Tigger.” I said outright that I wanted one. Mom listened.
She went to five different stores to find me one for Christmas. “Bouncing
Tigger” is one of my favorite possessions, not just because he’s wonderful, but
also because my mom really went out of her way to get him. That means a lot to
me.

_____________________________________________________

Following
or not following the rules is not always clear-cut. Stationery may be a great
present and a toy could fizzle. There are nuances and subtle do’s and don’ts.
That’s why I’m writing this blog. It’s not foolproof, but it’s a way to start
thinking about gifts.

Here are
the basic, if repetitive, rules of good gift giving made deceptively easy.

Just about all the rules to a good gift involve TIME. Any good strategist will tell you
that timing is the key to success. In this case you are allowing yourself time
to make a strategy and modify it as necessary.

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About Me

I was born in Oregon but I spent most of my childhood in Damascus, Syria (my father's hometown). I went to Mills College and fell in love with the Bay Area, but returned to Oregon and worked at Eugene Public Library for 9 years before heading to film school in British Columbia. After I graduated from Simon Fraser University, I visited Syria. But I left before all the fuss started. I'm currently writing "Damascus Chronicles," a memoir of my childhood in Syria. I've also written a short film "How's Your Life?" [Keep, Hiyatek?] that is in pre-production, and I continue working on my documentary, "El Hijab," about Syrian women and the choice to wear or not to wear the Muslim head-scarf.